Vigil
Vigil is a Virtual Intelligence program encountered by Commander Shepard in Mass Effect. This digital entity was created by the ancient Prothean race as an assistant caretaker for their hidden research facility on the planet Ilos. The program was created by Ilos' chief overseer Ksad Ishan. History When Commander Shepard's team follow rogue Spectre Saren Arterius and his geth forces into the Ilos facility, Vigil halts the team's progress with a force-field and diverts them into the Watcher's Chamber in the archives. Upon meeting them, Vigil's hologram interface has badly degraded, but its memory core is still intact. After monitoring their communications during the operation on the surface, it has translated its output so they can all understand it. It is relieved to see the squad because none of them are artificial intelligences or have succumbed to Reaper indoctrination, proving the Protheans' contingency plan worked. Vigil is desperate to help Shepard and prevent the Commander from making the same mistakes that the Protheans did. Vigil explains that, following a cycle that has continued for millions of years, the Reapers returned and began destroying all organic civilizations in the galaxy fifty thousand years ago. Prothean scientists on Ilos, however, were saved because the records about Ilos were destroyed in the initial wave. The staff on the planet were preserved in an underground facility that the Reapers failed to find and destroy, put into cryogenic suspension with Vigil to watch over them, so they could be released when the Reapers were gone. However, because of the centuries it took for the Reapers to destroy the Protheans, Vigil was forced to save power by deactivating the cryogenic pods one by one, killing the individuals inside. Most of the Protheans died, except for the twelve top scientists who were brought out of the pods after the Reapers finally left. There were not enough of the scientists to reproduce and save their species from extinction, so they instead tried to save future species. The remaining Protheans used the Conduit to reach the Citadel, and interfered with the signal to the keepers that allows the Citadel to become a mass relay. However, it is uncertain as to what happened to them, as the Conduit is a one-way passage from Ilos to the Citadel. Although the members of Shepard's squad are horrified that Vigil killed the people it was supposed to protect, Vigil says that this eventuality was not entirely unforeseen by the Protheans, and that it was following contingency planning. The squad is sure the non-essential staff at Ilos didn't know about this "contingency plan", though. Vigil gives Shepard a data file that will grant temporary direct control of the Citadel's functions, saying that Shepard must break the cycle of genocide that the Reapers cause. Despite its knowledge about the Reapers, Vigil can't answer Shepard's questions about why the Reapers keep fostering and then destroying organic life; the motivations of synthetic life were beyond the Protheans' comprehension. If Liara T'Soni is in the squad, she wants to spend more time talking to Vigil to learn more about the Protheans from it, saying this might be their only chance. Shepard can tell her off for wasting their time, but even if Shepard agrees, Vigil explains its programming has been limited, and it is able to provide only information directly related to stopping the Reapers. Nonetheless, if Ilos is explored further, Vigil could provide a treasure trove of knowledge. Following the Battle of the Citadel, the Citadel Council launched an investigation of Ilos. By the time they had done this, however, Vigil and all other systems within the Prothean facility had shut down, thus the Council still had no conclusive evidence that Saren's flagship Sovereign was actually a Reaper. Category:Virtual Constructs Category:Holograms Category:Mass Effect